''Serious Mistake' • Gideon Sa'ar explains: This is why the Ombudsman should be removed

March 5, 2025   

Removing the Attorney General from his position is an unusual step. A step that has not been taken since the 1980s. But the Attorney General's order is also extremely unusual. She has become a full-fledged political player, systematically working against the government with the transparent goal of overthrowing it. Anyone who wants to overthrow the government supports it, and vice versa. This is a place where the Attorney General is not allowed to be. For some time now, she has not maintained proper working relations with the government and the ministers. Everything is a "legal impediment.".

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I started working in the Attorney General's Office more than thirty years ago. The institution of the Attorney General is dear to my heart. This institution is being destroyed these days and is becoming an institution that receives trust from only half the people based on political affiliation. In her first year in office, during the previous government's term, she acted according to the motto she presented when she ran for the position - "enabling advice." Today, she is in the furthest place from that. The path she has taken from end to end can be learned from an analysis of the two cases in which the High Court decided to reverse its decisions. During the previous government's term, this was in the matter of the appointment, during the election period, on her advice, of Judge (retired) Meni Mazuz to the position of chairman of the Advisory Committee for Senior Appointments for a period of 8 (!) years. The Supreme Court annulled the appointment and ruled that they "made the exception the rule and the rule the exception" in everything that concerns what is permitted and prohibited regarding appointments during an election period. In other words: enabling advice on steroids. Recently, the Supreme Court reversed its opinion regarding the disqualification of the appointment of the acting chairwoman of the Second Authority for Television and Radio for a period of only three (!) months. In addition, in the same ruling, the High Court reversed its position not to allow the Minister of Communications separate representation in the petition. In other words: impossible advice on steroids. Any honest person can separate their position regarding the government (negative or positive) from understanding what exactly is happening here. The one who changed her approach 180 degrees is the legal advisor to the government.

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It cannot be said that the current government has not challenged the Legal Advisor to the Government, and at certain times her stance and some of her positions were valuable. But there is nowhere in the world where a legal advisor acts consistently, systematically, and unrestrainedly against the government he is supposed to advise. All this - while stretching the boundaries of the role itself to impossible places. Continuing to impose her on the government is a serious governmental malfunction that severely harms the functioning of the executive branch. I have seen this time and again - and up close - in the last six months. I brought to the government, three years ago, the proposal to elect Attorney Gali Baharav-Miara for the position of Legal Advisor to the Government. According to the exact same concept according to which I brought her candidacy (and which is anchored in my words at the government meeting in February 2022) and according to her current conduct - there is no doubt that she should end her position. If all the facts that I know today were known to me then - I would not have proposed her candidacy. This is, of course, wisdom in hindsight. It is better to learn from mistakes than to fortify ourselves in them. Attorney Baharav-Miara left the Minister of Justice no choice but to take the step he announced this evening, and she was the one who, through her conduct, convinced that this step was necessary. In addition, a reform of the Attorney General's institution (split) must be promoted in terms of its responsibility for the general prosecution (with an emphasis on criminal proceedings against members of the government and the Knesset). Likewise, a change must be led in the issue of representation (broader possibility for independent representation of the government and its members).